Reconditioning chocolate for coating confectionery and the like



Feb. 2, .1932. G, BAKER ET AL.

RECONDITIONING CHOC OLATE FOR COATING CONFECTIONERY AND THE LIKE OriginaLl Filed March 51. 1926 .& WW5 @hi Ti f mkm m/fim m w mn eW 95W wme. Ga WW wm M L A i atented Feb. 2, 1932 j "canes star-Es GEORGE BALEH BAKER, or Lennon, WASHINGTON here, or; WARLINGHAM,

nn enonenwrnnram BERKS, or sou'rrrronr; nnennnn assrenons T0 BAKER rnnxrnsco, Inc, or saeruaw, ,ivrronreen, a conrona'rroiv or nnvvazonx nnconnrrronrne cHocoLArE ron-coe'rlne"courncrronnnr Annmarie LIKE Original application filed. March 31, 1926, SerialNo. 179,662, Patent No, 1,737,447, Divided and. this appli cation filed July 9, 1928, Serial No; 29I,16 3,'and in Great Britain March 31, 1926. i

This invention relates to the coating of confactions with a chocolate by the process in which the confections are caused to; pass through a curtain of molten chocolate, the surplus'not retained by the confections falling into a receiver whence it is returned-to the i'eedingvessel supplying the curtain.

In such processes, as heretofore practised, he surplus chocolate is raised by an elevator, usually a pump, to-the' teed vessel, and if found not liquid enough for immediate re-use' the attendant either adds a further amount of hot liquid chocolate and mixes it with the elevated mass or he manipulatesthe heating means to heat up the whole body oi chocolate to the degree that he judges sufficient for its use. These rough and inexact methods de-, pend for success on the skill andlrnowledge oi the" attendant and moreover are not adapted for use if the chocolate'has to be supplied in a state requiring observance of exactlimitations of temperature, as for example the process setiorth in our prior Patent No. 1,737,47, granted Nov.- 26, 1929, of which the present case is a division, where the temperature'of the massmust be such that incipient crystallization of the chocolate can be initiated in and also confined to that superficial portion of the chocolate curtain which is to form the outside of the coating on the confections. i

According to the present invention the aforesaid su plus chocolate, during its return, is first heated up to at least a temperature at which any fat crystals that exist in it are entirely remelted, and it is then cooled to the desirable temperature for coating, which usually will be a temperature only slightly above that at which the crystals tend to re iorm. Thus, on its arrival in the feed vessel it still contains no crystals but is in such temperature condition that crystals may commence to form where the chocolate is subjected to cooling conditions, as for examplelocal cooling cond tions, if the chocolate is drawing.

to form'the exterior portion of the curtain as described inthe aioresaidpatent. Apparatus suitablefor this purpose is shown by way of example in the annexed 0 is the feed or flooding trough or vessel and h the conveyor for the confections or centres g which pass through thecurtain of chocolate descending from, the outlet of vessela' 7 v e...

;The molten chocolate not picked up by the centres 9 falls through the conveyor it into a heated tray or-other containerand is finally elevated, as. by pumping, to be'againied to the flooding trough. But before it reaches the latter, it issubjected to means whereby the whole'of the chocolate is reconditioned, by being heated to a temperature slightly above melting point, so that it is entirely free from crystals, as for eXample3 L5 0., and then tempered down to the temperature required for, coating the goods according to Lar e;

the nature of the coating required. The.

chocolate falling through the conveyor may contain solid or semi-solid lumps such as would fall from roller scrapers or other unheated parts of the mechanism, and all such lumps must be-melted. V r a This may beefi'ected in various ways but an appropriate method is illustrated in the drawing in which the chocolate is collected below the conveyor k in a heated trough f' and passes from the latter between a pair of heated, closely-set revolving rollers F, P

which may, if desired, be rotated at different speeds. Scrapers-f forthe rollers, areshown as attached to the wall of the trough f. {The saidrollers will press out the lumps and ensure'that the whole mass of the chocolate will be well mingled together when passing-between them in fully molten condition. Other ways of attaining the'same object are to pass the'lumpy chocolate into a heated collecting trough, or, to feed or pump it through a strainer which will retain the lumps until other suitable means.

the hot chocolate flowing past causes them to melt.

The chocolate from between the rollers 7, f passes into a jacketed trough f from which it may be elevated by any convenient pumping mechanism, preferably jacketed, to prevent chilling, a preferred or suitable elevating means comprising a revolving worm or screw elevator shown as having an in clined axis and working within a pipe or tube i in which the worm fits. The said pipe or tube is suitably jacketed as at f .to receive a heating or .tempering medium .to either bring the chocolate to or maintain it at the desired temperature to prevent chilling and graining .thereof. The :action of the worm within the tube stirs the chocolate and tends to maintain it :at .21 uni-form temperature throughout. The chocolate delivered from the elevator 7 may be fed direct to the flooding trough or be delivered into a jacketed tank or hopper? in which it-may be stirred and maintained at or broughtto the temper ature required for coating.

It will be necessary to cool down the chocolate to bring it to thecor-rect temperature for applying to the goods, either by passing -a tempering medium through the elevating worm jacket f or through one of the other tempering jackets in the machine. If too much cooling is effected the efiect of the cooled jacket may be-to produce a considerable amount of graining 'or crystallizing throughout the mass of chocolate. In order to remelt such grained chocolate and to ensure thatt here is substantially no g-rainiug in the chocolate fed to the flooding vessel a, it may be-desirable to again pass the chocola'te through one or more pairs of heated revolving rollers f or their equivalent in hopper 7' and from which it passes direct to the flooding vessel, two scrapers being shown at co-operating with said rollers to conduct the chocolate in two streams.

In both methods last described it is also desirable to rapidly tap or vibrate the container or distributing vessel 0, or its equivalent, as the case may be, and such vibration which may suitably be effected as by mount- :ing the container on a pivoted bar or bars the free end of which is hooked to engage --a rotatable ratchet or toothed wheel 9, or by This vibration causes the chocolate to iflow more readily, and it also removes imprisoned air from the chocolate :and so improves :the :quality of the resultant goods.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In the process of coating confectionery and the like with chocolate, the method whereused for further coat-ing operations by being first heated to a temperature of about 34.5 0., so as to dissolve any crystals which may have first heated to a temperature of about 34.5 (1,

so as todissolve any crystals which may have formed, and then cooled to a temperature .above that at which ,graining occurs.

8. In the process of coating confectionery and the like with chocolate, the method wherein the surplus coating substance not retained by the confections is reconditioned and :again zused for further coating operations by :being first heated to a temperature of about 845 (3., so as to dissolve any crystals which may have formed, then cooled to a temperature above that at which graining occurs, and then furthercooled'to grain the chocolate.

i. The method according to claim 1 in in which the surplus coating substance is freed from'lumps and heated and is then cooled to the coating temperature on its way to a flooding vessel but without graining.

The method according to claim 1 in which the-surplus coating substance is freed from lumpsand heated, is then cooled on its way to a flooding vessel, and is again reheated to ensure that it is in ungrained condition throughout before reaching said flooding vessel.

6. In the method of coating confectionery and the like, which comprises depositing on the confections a coating substance one portion of which, forming the outside of the coating, is in a grained or partly crystallized condition, the step of reconditioning for further coating operations, the surplus coating substance not retained by the confections .by first heating. said'surplus substance to above the temperature at which crystals are dissolved, and then cooling it to the temperature at which said crystals are about to form.

In witness whereof we have signed this specification.

GEORGE RALPH BAKER. JAMES WASHINGTON EPPS. GEORGE WILLIAM PERKS. 

